If you’ve ever wondered about putting a green roof atop your house, this is the book for you. In Green-Roof Houses, (Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2026)* authors Oscar Riera Ojeda and James Moore McCown offer profiles of 32 residences across the globe, from North & South America to Europe & Asia. Each entry includes a brief description of the landscape, plus “plans” of each property and numerous photographs. It’s a testament to the fact that sustainable projects — including green roofs — are
being installed almost everywhere. In the introduction to the book, architectural journalist McCown takes readers through a history of green roofs, dating back centuries, then brings us up to date with today’s new green roofs that arose during the environmental movement. He notes there are two different types of green roofs: intensive green roofs with deep soil layers, more ability to bear weight, and a varied plant life and which require high maintenance; and extensive green roofs with a thin depth of soil that allows for easy care. There are examples of each kind throughout the book.
You’ll be entranced by the Weston residence in southwestern Connecticut with its intersecting spaces. As McCown puts it, “The house’s roofs are conceived as its ‘fifth facade.’ The architects took advantage of the flat roofs by transforming them into landscaped terraces.” And in Austin, Texas, Edgeland House was built on a former industrial site. The design team collaborated with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center to plant more than 40 native species on the green roof and in the surrounding landscape.
It’s a 21st century book for 21st century designers.
Not everyone likes to invite the public into their personal gardens, but this book gives us a chance to see the detailed work of a renowned landscape designer and learn from what she’s created over the past 30 years or so. In A MOMENT IN TIME: Designing a Country Garden (Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2026)*, designer Kathryn Herman takes us to historic Pepperidge Farm, (yes, where the bread company was founded in the early 1900’s), where she’s carved out her own six-acre garden on the 20 acre estate.
Herman studied in the UK at Hadspen House with writer and designer Penelope Hobhouse (now in her 90’s), and Hobhouse’s garden managers Nori and Sandra Pope. As Herman says in the introduction to the book, “Hadspen House taught me that a garden should never be static. It should always be evolving, always moving, always changing in subtle ways” She adds that Hadspen House “helped me understand that a garden can be a place where beauty isn’t just seen but felt, where each plant, each color, each texture plays a part in telling a larger story.”
The book takes the reader through Herman’s garden rooms — the perennial garden, the meadow, the greenhouse, the pool garden and more — and also discusses some of the elements that make a garden memorable. Among those elements are hedging, form, color, circulation, layering, and juxtaposition. An essay accompanies each section of the book, explaining Herman’s design principles, and numerous beautiful photographs will transport you to dream-like English-style gardens that everyone can adapt for their own home landscapes or professional designs.
*Small commissions earned on any book sales through Amazon.,
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